right before your eyes i am changing
by keem
Summary: Ichigo and Tatsuki, at the end of it all. Drabble.


"So, you see," he finishes awkwardly, haltingly. "I wasn't, er, _trying_ to be an asshole when I told you not to associate with me anymore. I was just trying to keep you safe."

Tatsuki gives him a highly appraising look. Eventually her gaze will drift down to where Ichigo's arms swing uselessly at his sides. Immediately he realizes how ridiculous he must look to her, and he quickly shoves them deep into the confines of his pocket. Tatsuki snorts.

"Evidently that didn't work," Ichigo remarks finally, thinking of the conversation he had recently had with Urahara. He's still not able to quite meet her eyes.

Tatsuki doesn't even have the decency to look sheepish, although she does look a little less severe. She shakes her head, arms folded across her chest. "You're an idiot," she says, but her voice isn't nearly as hostile before, "if you think I was simply going to let you _walk away_."

"Well, what was I supposed to say?" Ichigo asks helplessly. "That I'm really a shinigami, and Inoue had been taken captive by a group of artificially, super-charged Hollows called the Espada?"

"It doesn't matter what you _thought_ I would believe," Tatsuki huffs. She digs the toe of her shoe into the grass in order to resist kicking him. "You should have at least told me. I thought we were friends, Ichigo. You owe me at least that much, especially when Orihime is involved."

"Look, I'm not saying what I did was the right thing!" Ichigo explods abruptly, with such ferociousness that anyone else would have taken a step back. But not Tatsuki – she holds her ground, gaze never wavering, silently daring him to look at her, challenge her. But when Ichigo finally looks her full-on in the face, it isn't hostility written on those surly features – it's so astonishingly full of regret that Tatsuki is a little taken aback.

"I just wanted you to see it from _my _perspective," he says, drawing one fist up against his chest, to where his heart is. "I wasn't doing it to be a jerk, Tatsuki. I was just honestly concerned for you – and not for just you, but for Keigo, everyone! And I felt…"

"Don't look away from me, Ichigo."

The look he gives her this time is downright venomous, but he obliges. "I felt responsible, okay? And I know it was thick-headed of me, but I wanted to go by myself. It was my fault that Inoue got involved in this mess in the first place, and I didn't want to have the same thing happen to any of you."

Ichigo exhales, and so does Tatsuki. "Fine," she says curtly. "I forgive you. But in the future, keep in mind that I'm more than capable of taking care of _myself_. Keigo might be an idiot, so I understand that, _but_—"

Ichigo rolls his eyes, and Tatsuki thinks immediately that he is really, really immature. But she has always known that, hasn't she? Does Ichigo's chivalry really come as a surprise, then?

"Just remember that I've kicked wiped the floor with you dozens of times during tournaments, Ichigo," she reminds him, but she's smiling as she says it. Ichigo flushes a little, grumbles something under his breath. "I think I can hold my own on a battlefield, okay?"

"Fighting Hollows isn't the same as fighting humans, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki holds up her hand. "Yeah, so you've told me. But even still, I can _see_ them, Ichigo. That mere fact alone has got to count for something, right? Even your weirdo shopkeeper friend thinks so, apparently."

Ichigo merely shrugs. He's done with the conversation, it seems, and Tatsuki is feeling all the wind being blown out from underneath her sails. So fine, she'll let this one die—for now.

"Let's head back, okay? The others will be wondering about us."

Tatsuki nods once, and sets off after Ichigo down the grassy knoll. The sun is setting in the distance, and Tatsuki can't help but marvel at the fact that it's the same orange hue of Ichigo's hair. Once they reach the sidewalk, Ichigo pauses, looks back at her with a weird expression on his face.

"Hold up for a second."

Tatsuki raises an eyebrow as he suddenly reaches out, takes her hand in his own and forcibly spreads her fingers apart. He intertwines his own fingers with her own, linking them up before dropping them down at their sides. "Alright, let's go."

But Tatsuki doesn't: she's still staring to where their hands remain joined in puzzlement. "I don't need you to hold my hand, Ichigo," she reminds him, a little tartly.

Ichigo glances back with one of those rare, faint smiles. "I'm not holding your hand because you _need_ me to," he reassures her. "I'm holding it because I _want_ to." And he leads her off toward the horizon.


End file.
